Continuous twin-belt casting machines are well known in the art. These machines include a pair of travelling flexible metal belts slightly downwardly inclined in the direction of travel. One belt defines the upper surface, and the other the lower surface, of an elongated mold chamber or cavity having a downstream exit for the cast product. The sides of the mold chamber are defined by traveling edge dams which move with the belts. The belts are normally carried by rollers which are cantilevered outwardly from an "inboard" frame. This leaves the outboard side relatively open, permitting the belts to be readily removed and replaced as desired. Examples of continuous casting machines are described in the following U.S. Pats.: 3,036,348; 3,041,686; 3,167,830; and 3,848,658.
Molten metal is supplied to the inlet end of the casting machine from a tundish which may be mounted on a car, through a feed tube, and a nozzle assembly. The nozzle itself is ceramic. Close tolerances are required between the nozzle and the inlet end of the mold cavity as defined by the upper and lower belts and the side dams. Normally, the tundish and the feed tube and nozzle assembly are preheated in a retracted position. They are then mated to the caster moments before casting begins.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,544,018, issued Oct. 1, 1985 to Figge et al., discloses one arrangement for interconnecting the tundish with a feeding trunk while positioning the nozzle. However, one problem with a feeding device such as that of the Figge et al. patent is that the alignment of the various members, including that between the nozzle and the caster inlet, is difficult to control. This control difficulty arises because the control points are remote from the nozzle. This alignment control difficulty is also disadvantageous because repeatability between castings is not assured and clearance control is difficult as a result of movement created by thermal expansion and contraction and metal transfer.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved locating and guiding system between the nozzle assembly and the caster inlet.
Another object is to reference the nozzle assembly directly to the caster carriage rather than from a remote location as in the prior art.
Other objects, features, and advantages will become apparent from the following description and appended claims.